


When Masks Fall

by waterwhosleepwho



Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Nara Shikamaru, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Confused Nara Shikamaru, Haruno Sakura Bashing, M/M, One-Sided Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Strong Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto is a Good Friend, genius naruto, ino bashing too sry guys, shikanaru - Freeform, smart Shikamaru
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:04:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27230119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterwhosleepwho/pseuds/waterwhosleepwho
Summary: The Konoha 12 and their senseis are sent on a mission to improve relations with multiple villages. Along the way, Naruto's mask starts to slip and they all begin to see the real him.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 19
Kudos: 276





	1. Chapter 1

"Ready to go?" Kakashi asks as he meets Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, their teams, and his own team at the gates. Asuma sighs as he exhales the smoke from his mouth.

"Not yet. Oddly enough, you aren't the last one to show up," he says. Kakashi frowns and surveys the group before pinpointing the missing ninja.

"Where is he?"

Kakashi's question was quickly answered as the blond in question runs up to them. "Hey guys! Sorry I'm late! I had some things to take care of!" Naruto says, rubbing to back of his neck sheepishly. Sakura and Ino begin shouting at him before Ino stops short.

"Uh, Naruto, are your nails painted?" she asks.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, they are. Moegi did it. helps her calm down. She gets pretty stressed sometimes so I go over monthly so she can do my nails. It relaxes her. I went over earlier than usual this month because of the mission, that's part of the reason I was late," Naruto rambles. Ino and Sakura inwardly coo at the act.

"That's nice of you Naruto. Are you ready?" Kurenai asks. Naruto nods and the group sets off. Only Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Neji notice the way that the hyperactive boy seemed to just barely favor his right leg. On top of this, Naruto ws being abnormally quiet. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. He stared at the trees and animals as they passed. An odd amount of animals were around. Usually the inhabitants of the forest gave passing ninja a wide berth, especially with such a large group.

Everyone seemed to notice the animals with the exception of Kakashi's team. Sakura and Naruto paid them no mind, with the exception of watching them casually. "We all see the animals, right?" Tenten finally asks.

"Yeah. I was wondering about them," Shikamaru says. "Most animals tend to avoid people."

"Really? They're always around when we're on our missions. I just figured they had gotten used to ninja coming through all the time," Sakura replies. 

Before anyone else could say anything a bear cub ran up to Naruto. The blond raises his eyebrows and kneels down. "Hey little guy. Where's your mama?" Naruto says softly as he places a hand on the cub's fuzzy head. The cub sits back and bats at Naruto's hand without malicious intent. Not far off, a growl echoed. Naruto looks in the direction that the noise came from.

Lifting the cub in his arms, Naruto turns to Kakashi. "I'm gonna go put this little guy back where he belongs." Kakashi nods in return.

"Wait, isn't that a bit dangerous?" Asuma protests.

"I'm sure Naruto would be fine, but if you feel the need, send Shikamaru as well. We'll wait here," Kakashi says flippantly.

Shikamaru sighs but follows Naruto further into the forest. Much to the Nara's surprise, there was no rambling about random topics nor was there much talking at all. Naruto was simply walking, stopping a few times and waiting before continuing, sometimes in a different direction. Shikamaru just followed, keeping a lazy eye out for anything that could be dangerous. You know, other than an angry mama bear.

They eventually find the animal in question, and boy did she look pissed. Naruto sets the cub at his feet and stands still as the mama bear draws closer. The animal sniffs Naruto for a moment before letting out a noise akin to happiness and blowing on Naruto. The blond laughs slightly and runs his hand over the bear's shoulder before waving and walking back to Shikamaru.

The lazy male gave Naruto an incredulous look. Deciding that he really didn't care, Shikamaru follows Naruto back to the group. "Ready to go?" Kakashi asks. Naruto nods and they set off once more.

Shikamaru frowns at the blond. What is going on with him?


	2. Chapter 2

The weird behaviour continued, but nobody else seemed to care. After a couple hours of walking, they came to a fork in the road. "Well? Right or left?" Asuma asks. Kurenai shrugs.

"The right way must be right! Oh, the answer is so YOUTHFUL!" Gai shouts, crying in unison with Lee. Kakashi sweat dropped. Shikamaru sighs and looks up at the sky, wondering why he came. 

Before anyone could walk in either direction, Naruto turned to a smaller path near the intersection. As if on cue, multiple footsteps sounded along with various panicked shouts. Gai's team and Sasuke get into a defensive stance just as what looked to be a teenage girl burst out of the cover of the trees and collided with Naruto.

"NARUTO!" she exclaims. Naruto stumbled but managed to stay upright and a moment later five ninja ran up to them.

"Princess! You shouldn't run off like that! You could get hurt!" one of them pants. The girl releases Naruto and turns to face the foreign nin. Now that she didn't have her face buried in Naruto's chest, the others could see that she had pale blue hair and deep green eyes. Her skin was a deep tan and she wore a simple yet obviously expensive outfit. She wore teal shorts with black diamonds up the sides that were high waisted and a little on the short side. Her shirt was a black halter top that tucked into her shorts and teal, black and gold fingerless gloves that ended just after her elbows. Her shoes were shin-high sandals with a blue gem in the top.

"Nonsense," the girl, a princess apparently, says. "Naruto is more than capable of protecting me."

One of the nin gasps and falls to one knee. "Naruto-sama! I have heard tales of your greatness! I am forever thankful to you for saving the princess!"

The Konoha ninja were speechless while Naruto just looked vaguely uncomfortable. "Uh, you really don't have to do........any of that. I really didn't do much," he says.

"Oh, bullshit," the princess scoffs. "I would be dead without you."

"Whatever you say, Naoki," Naruto sighs. "By the way, these are some of my comrades from the Leaf. My teammates, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha and our teacher Kakashi Hatake. That's Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and their teacher Asuma Sarutobi. Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, Tenten, and their teacher Gai Maito are over there. And those four are Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and their teacher Kurenai Yuhi. Everyone this is Princess Naoki Kitagawa and her bodyguards. Tamotsu Ikehara, Hisashi Oka, Asami Miki, Ayako Mastushika, and I don't know the last one. What's your name?"

"Keiji Okamura, sir," the still kneeling ninja says. 

"Please don't call me sir," Naruto says in a slightly pleading tone.

"He's just being humble, address him respectfully," Naoki cuts in, effectively counter acting Naruto's request. Naruto gave her an unimpressed look.

"I fucking hate you."

"If you say so," Noaki replies dismissively. Naruto rolls his eyes. "Anywho, we should probably head out. I just wanted to say hi." 

"Why were you on that trail? It's barely a trail, my lady," Tenten asks, tacking the title on as an afterthought. Naoki turned to her and brushed some hair out of her face.

"There's no need for any of the title stuff," she starts.

"She's just being humble, address her respectfully," Naruto says, throwing her words back at her. Naoki elbows him on the ribs, causing him to wince and grumble in annoyance.

"Ignore him. Anyway, my companions thought it would be better to avoid detection the best we can. Personally, I think it's stupid but what do I know."

"Where are you going?" Sakura asks.

"We're on our way to Getsugakure," Hisashi answers.

"That's one of our stops as well," Neji says.

Keiji gasps and taps Naruto's shoulder, having finally gotten off of the ground. "Would we be able to travel with you and your group?"

Naruto shifts uncomfortably and glances at Kakashi. "Well, it's not really my call but I don't mind as long as you drop the honorifics."

"It's fine with me," the copy nin states with a shrug. Asuma voices his indifference causing Ino to shriek about how he should care because it's a princess.

"The more the merrier," Kurenai says.

"WHAT A YOUTHFUL SUGGESTION!" Gai screams. He and Lee begin the usual rant about the power of youth while Tenten and Neji sigh and tune them out as usual.

"......Right. Thank you," Naoki says, making a conscious effort to not look Gai in the eye. Naruto notices and snickers.

With that, the group sets off toward the Village Hidden in the Moon. To Gai's disappointment, they took the left path rather than the right. Gai and Lee lead the way with Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke right behind them. Tenten and Ino were behind them. Next was Asuma and Kurenai followed by Hinata, Neji, and Shino. Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji were behind them, then Naruto and Naoki. Asami and Ayako followed them, and Tomatsu, Hisashi, and Keiji brought up the rear.

After a few minutes, Shikamaru fell back to walk with Naruto and Naoki, Choji and Kiba following his lead. "Hey Naruto, what's up with you today?" 

"What do you mean?" Naruto asks. To anyone less perceptible, Naruto was perfectly casual, not understanding the question. But Shikamaru saw the way that he tensed slightly.

"Don't play stupid. You've been acting weird," Shikamaru replies, rolling his eyes slightly. 

"Oh...well I guess I'm just guilty that I had to miss my meet up with Moegi. I mean, we moved it up, but still," the blond fibs.

"Uh huh," Shikamaru says, obviously not buying it at all. "And the limp?"

Naruto's eyes widened before he schooled his expression. "Limp?"

"Yes, limp. Not super obvious but it's there. Let me guess, you tripped?" Shikamaru asks sarcastically. Naruto paled and began to scratch his right wrist.

"Would you believe me if I said I did?"

"No."

"I really don't want to talk about it, so please just drop it."

Shikamaru pauses and looks at Naruto's obviously distressed form. "Alright. I'll drop it. For now." Naruto sighs and relaxes, but his nails continue to rake across the skin on his wrist. The flesh there was quickly becoming red and irritated.

"Naru, stop it. You'll hurt yourself," Naoki murmurs, pulling the blond's hands away from one another. Naruto sucks in a shaky breath and shoves his hands into his pockets.

Kiba shares a slightly confused and upset look with Choji but opts not to say anything. Naruto was upset enough as it was. Shikamaru sighs and looks away from the blond.


	3. Chapter 3

"Let us stop here for the night and get some youthful rest!" Lee announces, stopping abruptly. Gai nearly sobs as he voices his agreement quite loudly. Naruto halts, grabbing onto Naoki so that she doesn't crash into the person in front of her. The group breaks and begins setting up camp, the team leaders supervising and helping when needed and the teens gathering wood and setting up camp. Naoki had been banned from helping by her bodyguards so she pouted on a log, trying not to laugh at the faces NAruto made at her whenever he passed by.

"Hey, Naru!" she suddenly, paying no attention to the fact that he was halfway across camp nor the stares she gained due to the nickname. Naruto sighs and turns around, raising an eyebrow at the princess.

"What?" he asks, causing Ino and Sakura to gasp, as if personally offended by his indifference toward her title.

"Can I bunk with you?" she asks. Naruto snorts.

"Pretty sure the rules state that you have to sleep in your own tent. Wards off traitors and all that," The blond replies. He turns to the side and leans down to pick up another stick.

"I'm pretty sure the rules state that you were supposed to stay in my village to collect your reward instead of ditching the ceremony," Naoki replies, chucking a pretty hefty stick at Naruto's head. Naruto catches it last second and turns to face the princess with a smirk.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," he says coyly, twirling the stick around a couple times before adding it to the firewood pile.

"Naruto you dumbass!" Sakura screeches. "She's a princess! You can't talk to her like that!"

As the pinkette raises her arm to hit her teammate, Miki catches her arm, glaring down at the younger. "I'll have you know that Naruto is at perfect liberty to speak to Princess Naoki as he pleases, due to being a close friend of the royal family and an honorary high ranking Iwagakure nin. The next time you attempt to strike him, you may lose your arm."

Sakura stammers as she stumbles backward. Her and Naruto make eye contact and his eyes flash before he grins at Miki. "You're so uptight, Asami. Let loose, would ya?"

"I'm afraid that's impossible given that you and the princess can't seem to stay out of trouble," Miki replies, ruffling Naruto's hair.

"I'll have you know," Naruto starts in a mocking tone. "That me and Ki are perfectly capable of fending for ourselves. So go make out with Ayako, or whatever it is you do in your spare time."

Miki turns bright red, socking Naruto in the arm as Matsushika looks up from where she was pitching a tent, face also flaming. Naruto laughs as he dodges the oncoming attacks, making his way to Naoki. Shikamaru follows the encounter all the way through, making mental notes of things that intrigued him.

Later, while sitting around the fire. Naoki makes a huge show of flipping Naruto off. "This finger gets a lot of use," she says, meaning that she gives people the finger often.

Naruto snickers. "That's 'cause you're a ho."

Sakura whips around to face Kakashi. "Sensei! Are you really going to let him talk to her like that?" Kakashi gives her a rather annoyed look.

"As you heard earlier, Naruto is at liberty to talk to Princess Naoki however he wants and the princess doesn't care, so why should I?" he replies. Sakura growls and glares at Naruto.

"Oi, dobe," Sasuke says suddenly.

Naruto doesn't bat an eye. "Yeah, teme?"

"How the hell did you get to be an honorary nin for another village. I didn't know you could even do that," the Uchiha asks, his usual scowl in place.

"By saving my life. We offered him a permanent position, but he turned us down," Naoi answers before turning to Naruto. "Also, that's him?" Naruto nods.

"You.....told her about me," Sasuke says dully, not quite comprehending why. Naruto nods and gestures to everyone, not speaking due to the food in his mouth. "All of us?"

"Yup! I like you eleven-" Kiba, Hinata, Choji, Shikamaru, Tenten, Lee, Shino, and the senseis. "-I don't like you two-" Sakura and Ino. "- and I'm on the fence about you two." Sasuke and Neji.

Sakura and Ino share looks of matched outrage. Nobody pays them any attention as they move on to working out the rotation schedule for guard duty. Shikamaru, Sasuke, Hinata, and Tenten were up first along with Kakashi and Ikehara and Okamura, who made it clear that Naoki was their first priority.

~*~

It was the middle of the night when Sakura screamed, waking up everyone. They all rushed out of their tents to see everyone who was on guard duty plus Sakura, Ino, Kurenai, Gai, Asuma, and Miki paralyzed on the ground. The enemy nin had propped them up against trees so that they could, quote, "watch their allies fall". In the center of the large group of enemies, one of them held Naoki with a knife to her throat and another to her stomach.

Naruto charges instantly, but is lifted up by his collar. The enemy nin laughs as Naruto struggles in the air, spitting curses. Though, something about it seemed off to Shikamaru. That something became clear when Kakashi called Naruto's name and the blond stilled immediately.

"Do it," the copy nin says. Naruto nods and forces his arm around the one holding it up, pulling down sharply. The enemy nin yelps and drops him, only to be met with Naruto's foot to his chest. He flies into a tree. Naruto straightens up and sheds his jacket, revealing a black tank top that showcased his very toned arms. The blond lifts his shirt slightly, letting everyone see the storage tattoo on his hip. Naruto pulls out a katana and twirls it around, surveying the enemies.

The katana had a black blade and a red handle with a gold fox on the hilt and the enemies paled at the sight of it. "You didn't say he'd be here," one of them calls back to the man holding Naoki.

Naruto tosses his katana from hand to hand, cocking his head. "Kakashi?" he asks. The young boy's sensei looks around for a moment before replying.

"Alive." Naruto seemed annoyed by this answer, but stopped throwing his sword around.

"Fine. Since I can't kill you, I'll have to ask you to just hand over Naoki and leave," Naruto's voice was different now. He sounded cold and almost bored.

"Like hell! You may be the Kitsune, but you don't scare me!" the leader shouts out and everyone's eye widen with the exception of the princess's bodyguards, Naoki, and the teachers. 

The Kitsune was a legend among Konohagakure. The mysterious nin who could fight hand to hand with the legendary sanin and take down the ANBU. And now, here was this random man claiming that Naruto was Kitsune. Everyone held their collective breath as Naruto jumped into action.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know that Sasuke never got the curse mark or anything in this and there will be some modern thing in this. Hope you like it! Love y'all! Byyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeee


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